What will the future of food look like? Will we need to get used to eating new types of foods, or will we produce the foods we already know in new ways?

These were some of the questions posed at a half-day conference attended by close to 70 curious participants ranging from researchers and industry professionals to students and journalists.  

The primary focus of the conference was on challenges and opportunities presented by climate change in the European food sector.

Burgers and Biosolutions

After a brief introduction by the organisers from Aarhus University’s Department of Food Science and IDA Østjylland, the participants were ready to hear the first speaker of the day, Søren Bisp from Future Farming, Strategy and Business at SEGES Innovation spoke about the burgers of the future.

“Everything and anything go into a burger”, was the main point of his talk, highlighting that the popular fast-food item is an excellent vessel for trying out novel foods or food ingredients.

“The consumption of burgers is growing – and a burger is a concept, where you can hide things and test things out”, he said and concluded, that there is a need for a perception shift from focusing on future food production to future food consumption.

The next speaker of the day was Sofie Carsten Nielsen, Director, European Biosolutions Coalition & Danish Industry Biosolutions.

Her message was that right now and for the next couple of years, there is an open window for European biosolutions. Especially in a world and global market that is becoming less stable.

“We need these solutions very fast – because Europe needs to be able to take care of itself”, she said, while highlighting the need for regulatory changes:

“We have given birth to this industry, but right now it is growing up somewhere else”, she concluded.

Microbes and Enzymes

After a break with time for coffee, cake, networking and poster viewing, it was time to delve into the specifics of these different biosolutions and technologies.

The first speaker of this session was Professor Peter Lund from the Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at Aarhus University. He gave a talk about the current state of technologies to reduce methane emissions from ruminants.

He started by explaining the unique digestive system of the cow, where the microbes of the rumen turn indigestible fibres into food for the cow. A byproduct of this process is the potent greenhouse gas methane.

“The challenge is that we have a soup of microbes in the rumen, and how do we affect the ones producing the methane without affecting the rest?”

The professor gave a brief overview of the current technologies, and those being investigated at the moment, also issuing a word of warning:

“Many people hope that we can add up the effects of the different technologies, but from what we have seen so far the effects are not additive and biology is almost never linear”.

The next two speakers were Professor Peter Ruhdal Jensen, Department of Food Science, DTU and Professor Lotte Bach Larsen, Department of Food Science, Aarhus University.

The two professors spoke about a recent collaboration, where they have been working on precision fermentation of milk proteins and their technological quality.

Using precision fermentation, the researchers successfully recreated three out of four caseins found in milk. Enzymes turn caseins into functional proteins, and the caseins created were able to form rennet gels – a key component in cheese production.

Even though the research is promising, there are still challenges ahead when it comes to especially regulation, scaling, price and consumer acceptance.

Two Schools

Staying at the cell level, the next speaker, Professor Jette Feveile Young from the Department of Food Science at Aarhus University gave an overview of the current status of the research into cultivated meat.

She explained that there are two different schools within the field of cultivated meat: One believes that the production should be as animal-free as possible, while the other believes the key is using byproducts from animal production.

She explained that to ensure that the carbon footprint of the product is low, it is crucial that the bioreactor used in the production is fueled by green energy.

“At the end of the day we want to produce delicious, nutritious food with a low carbon footprint”, she concluded.  

There are still many unknowns when it comes to cultivated meat, and Jette Feveile Young explained that regulation and customer acceptance are among the top barriers.

Bioreactors and Consumer Acceptance

After another break it was time to hear David Vorländer, Application Manager, New Food at GEA Group speak about bioreactors.

Representing part of the industry that supports novel foods, David Vorländer spoke about both opportunities and challenges when designing bioreactors for novel food concepts production.

A bioreactor is essentially a production system that is separated from the outside environment, where biological processes can occur.

David Vorländer spoke about the excitement of being a part of an industry, where it is not yet certain what types of production systems will be in demand down the line:

“We are in an extremely fast-moving field – so nobody knows what technologies will actually be needed in the future, because it is not yet fixed which direction these new foods will go in”, he concluded. 

Moving from producers to consumers, the next speaker was Professor Liisa Lähteenmäki, from MAPP Centre at Aarhus University.

The main question she posed was: Do consumers see cellular products as a promise or as a concern?

“Cellular foods are unfamiliar to consumers because they are produced in novel ways”, the professor said.